Zsolt Kokoly

The Central Cemetery of Kolozsvár/Cluj is one of the oldest, still functioning cemeteries in Europe, representing a remarkable pantheon of Romanian, Hungarian, German and Jewish personalities resting here. This paper aims to offer a brief presentation of those professors of law, buried in the Central Cemetery, who have taught at the Bolyai University in Kolozsvár/Cluj (a state university with instruction in Hungarian language, established in 1945 and unified with the Romanian university in 1959). Kivonat Cimitirul Central (Hajongard) din Cluj reprezintă un veritabil „Panteon al Transilvaniei” unde-şi dorm somnul de veci personalităţi proeminente ale vieţii ştiinţifice şi culturale transilvănene. Studiul prezent îşi propune prezentarea profesorilor de drept înmormântaţi în Cimitirul Central, care au predat la Universitatea „Bolyai” din Cluj (1945–1959)

Freedom of services in the field of audiovisual media content has been a key element in the broader audiovisual media services sector of the European Union, relying mainly on the principle of free transmission and retransmission of audiovisual media content as transfrontier services. The adoption in December 2018 of the revised text of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive 2018/1808), as well as its stipulated deadline of September 2020 for implementation by Member States, marks the transition to a new, amended legal framework. Restrictions to the freedom of movement in the field of audiovisual media content comprise an exception to the country of origin principle, the revised Directive applying similar rules for linear and nonlinear media services. Novelty elements to the circle of possible restrictions are a direct consequence of the extension of protected values, more clarity and precision in the procedures (by introducing procedural assurances and more reasonable d...

The present study aims to present a brief summary of the evolution of Hungarian legal education in Transylvania, Romania, since the establishment of first legal courses in 1581 to our present day, as well as its perspectives in the 21st century.

On 20 November 2018, the Hungarian Museum Association of Transylvania and Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania organized a round table discussion on the legal history of Transylvania. The event took place as part of a series of events on the Hungarian Science Day in Transylvania, at the Sapientia building on Calea Turzii Cluj-Napoca. The participants were Dr Gyula Fábián (minority law), Dr Zsolt Fegyveresi (constitutional history), Dr László Nánási (history of criminal law), Dr Zsolt Kokoly (history of legal education), Dr János Székely (history of civil procedure law), and Dr Emőd Veress (history of civil law). The event was moderated by Előd Pál. The participants presented their research studies related to the legal history of Transylvania and explored the legal and social situations of the past hundred years.

The present study aims to offer a review of measures taken by the Romanian authorities in the field of audiovisual media regulation during the state of emergency instituted in March 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak. The legal framework has been adjusted, drawing both from extant norms, such as the 2003 Constitution of Romania, and from newly adapted legal norms such as the Presidential Decree declaring the state of emergency. Also, the competent authorities have been invested with additional powers, this being the case of the National Audiovisual Council and the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications. These institutions have faced multiple challenges regarding the clash between freedom of opinion and freedom of speech and the right to correct information of the public and the campaigns to counter misinformation.

The consolidation of the right to a healthy environment as one of the fundamental human rights can be seen as a result of the enshrinement in the Constitution of Romania since its revision in 2003, as well as the interpretations offered by The Constitutional Court in its pertinent jurisprudence. The present study aims to review previous research results in the field of legal doctrine and case law pertaining to environmental law in Romania, as well as to continue the examination of the most relevant cases contributing to the consolidation of constitutional dimensions of the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment.

The new Romanian Civil Code (adopted in 2009, in effect since 2011) comprises a section dedicated to personality rights, as a novelty element compared to the previous Code. Their incorporation into the form of juridical norm follows both naturally from the historic evolution of some fundamental rights, both from the intention of the Romanian lawmaker to offer a comprehensive legal framework in the field of civil law.

(...)
a jog társadalmi normák nélküli létezése azt eredményezi, hogy sem tiszteletben tartásuk, sem áthágásuk nem jár következményekkel, a személyiségi jogok szempontjából pedig azzal jár, hogy a szereplők gyakorlatilag állati-gépies szintre süllyednek. A mérték elvesztéséről beszélhetünk, hiszen minden személyiségi jogot átjár az alapellentmondás, az egyén és a társadalom dialektikája. A minden egyes személyiségi jogra érvényes belső ellentmondás Bodor Ádám regényei esetében akár a „drótsövénnyel körülvett tábor” és a
„végtelen szabadság igézete” közötti dichotómiában is megragadható.
(...)

The present study aims to offer a review of measures taken by the
Romanian authorities in the field of audiovisual media regulation during
the state of emergency instituted in March 2020 following the COVID-19
outbreak. The legal framework has been adjusted, drawing both from extant norms, such as the 2003 Constitution of Romania, and from newly adapted legal norms such as the Presidential Decree declaring the state of emergency.
Also, the competent authorities have been invested with additional
powers, this being the case of the National Audiovisual Council and the
National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications.
These institutions have faced multiple challenges regarding the clash
between freedom of opinion and freedom of speech and the right to correct information of the public and the campaigns to counter misinformation.

Case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as procedures taking place before the Commission aiming to clarify certain aspects regarding freedom of services – in this case, the principle of free transmission and retransmission of audiovisual media services – have always been regarded as particularly important in offering guidance in interpreting and applying European legal norms. The adoption in December 2018 of the revised text of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive 2018/1808) marks the transition to a new, amended legal framework. It also enables the critical review of the last case decided in front of the Court of Justice of the European Union, still instrumented according to the provisions of Directive 2010/13/EU: Case C‑622/17 (Baltic Media Alliance v. Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos komisija). While the main focus of the present paper lies with Case C‑622/17, for a cogent understanding of the extended judicial and legal context of the case, w...

Recent challenges in the EU business sector also comprise the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (the new text in force since December 2018), the main media policy tool of the EU which establishes the legal framework for a convergent media landscape that comprises linear, non-linear audiovisual media services and, recently, also video-sharing platforms (VSPs) and user-generated content. One of the novelties in the revised text of the AVMSD is the new set of legal provisions enshrined in Art. 4 referring to the anti-circumvention procedure, a phenomenon the European media landscape has long been familiar with (i.e. broadcasters from another Member State circumventing the stricter rules of the target Member State). The need for a more transparent and efficient regulation originated in the practical difficulties of applying (pre-revision) Art. 4 by national regulating authorities (NRAs) as in many cases providers of audiovisual media services falling under another Mem...

The paper presents a case of European jurisdiction, C-484/15 McFadden/Sony Music, concerning secondary liability of WLAN providers for illicit acts in the field of copyright, taking into consideration of the relevant exceptions of the InfoSoc Directive. Both the Advocate General, as well as the Court came to almost identical conclusions, exonerating the administrator of a WLAN, openly accessible to the public in case users of the respective network commit unlawful acts in the field of intellectual property, but reserving the possibility to oblige the network providers to password protect it in order to stop or to pre-empt unlawful conduct)

The paper presents the issues surrounding the legal definition of audiovisual media service by presenting and interpreting a case recently decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union, C-347/14 New Media Online. The case – submitted to the Court in 2012 – garnered international interest from scholars and law practitioners as it approached current problems linked to the issue of audiovisual media content hosted on online news portals, more specifically the question if this type of content falls under the scope of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Advocate General Maciej Szpunar’s non-binding opinion from July 2015 and the Court’s final – somewhat diverging and more nuanced – decision from later that year offer important guidelines regarding the legal notion of (non-linear) audiovisual media content.

The Central Cemetery of Kolozsvár/Cluj is one of the oldest, still functioning cemeteries in Europe, representing a remarkable pantheon of Romanian, Hungarian, German and Jewish personalities resting here. This paper aims to offer a brief presentation of those professors of law, buried in the Central Cemetery, who have taught at the Bolyai University in Kolozsvár/Cluj (a state university with instruction in Hungarian language, established in 1945 and unified with the Romanian Babeş University in 1959).

The present paper represents a detailed abstract of a monographic study by Zsolt Kokoly, published in a volume dedicated to the evolution of legal studies at the Bolyai University of Kolozsvár/Cluj in 1945-1959, comprising three parts: a brief introduction by Emőd Veress regarding the general framework for the creation of a state university in 1945 with Hungarian as language of instruction; a monographic study of legal studies at the Faculty of Law and Economic Studies at the Bolyai University of Kolozsvár/Cluj during its existence between 1945-1959 (study programs, general student population, academic body, teaching and research activities, editorial production, its most important institutional partners and their collaboration etc.); the third part comprising a series of interviews conducted with graduates of this specialization (Bolyai alumni from the years 1945 to 1958).

Lucrarea de faţă reprezintă un rezumat in extenso al studiului monografic cu titlul "Ştiinţele juridice la Universitatea „Bolyai” Cluj – 1945-1959", publicat în volumul omonim din 2016.
Volumul îşi propune prezentarea evoluţiei specializării drept, în limba maghiară, din cadrul Universităţii „Bolyai” Cluj (1945–1959), cuprinzând în acest sens o prefaţă semnată de Emőd Veress, un amplu studiu semnat de Zsolt Kokoly, dedicat istoriei ştiinţelor juridice din cadrul Facultăţii de Drept şi Ştiinţe Economice ai acestei universităţi (cronologie, infrastructură, programe de studii, populaţia studenţească, corpul profesoral, activitatea didactică şi de cercetare ştiinţifică, producţia editorială, relaţiile cu diferite instituţii de profil din Cluj, etc), respectiv o a treia parte, cuprinzînd interviuri cu absolvenţii de drept din promoţiile 1950–1964 ale Universităţii „Bolyai”.

Companies providing services in the field of audiovisual media find themselves in a special situation as far as freedom of establishment is concerned. This situation is based on two reasons: on one hand, as any trade company, companies providing services in the field of audiovisual media enjoy fundamental liberties as comprised in the articles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, but, on the other hand, due to their specific nature, they fall under the jurisdiction of the 2010/13/EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive. This directive is based on the principle of the country of origin, stating that providers of media content or audiovisual media services are subjected only to the legislation of their country of origin, and not their target country (exceptions are accepted only in very restricted circumstances). The consolidation of this principle has been greatly influenced by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice that has stated in a number of cases since the 90s that the country of origin is the country where a company providing services in the field of audiovisual media has established its seat.
Full text of the paper published in Revista Romana de Drept al Afacerilor 11/2015.

Criteria for establishing jurisdiction over media broadcasters in the European Union


The present study aims to present the criteria for establishing jurisdiction over media broadcasters in the European Union, focusing mainly on the case of audiovisual broadcasts where the country of origin principle can be subject to limitations.
The main regulatory instrument of the European Union in the field of audiovisual broadcasters, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (DIRECTIVE 2010/13/EU) has its core in the set of criteria establishing jurisdiction over media services considering that a key regulatory issue in the case of cross border audiovisual services and broadcasts is to determine jurisdiction.
The European Union holds the principle of the country of origin as the “foundation stone” for establishing jurisdiction over audiovisual media providers. As far as exceptions from the country of origin principle are concerned, the Directive has different criteria regarding linear audiovisual media services (art. 3, par. 2 and art. 4) and nonlinear audiovisual media services / television broadcasts (art. 3, par. 4, 5, 6).
The present paper

Una dintre libertățile fundamentale ale dreptului Uniunii Europene este libera circulaţie a persoanelor fizice şi a persoanelor juridice, indiferent de statul membru în care se doreşte exercitarea acestei libertăţi. În cazul persoanelor juridice, există două valenţe ale dreptului de liberă stabilire: dreptul de stabilire primar şi dreptul de stabilire secundar. Dreptul de stabilire secundar se referă la libertatea persoanei juridice de a înfiinţa sedii secundare (filiale, sucursale, agenţii etc.) în orice stat membru al Uniunii Europene. În timp ce doctrina privind dreptul de stabilire secundară se arată relativ unitară, problema devine mult mai complexă în cazul dreptului de stabilire secundar. Dreptul la stabilire primar oferă posibilitatea unei persoane juridice de a-şi transfera sediul într-un alt stat fără a fi nevoie de lichidare. Cu alte cuvinte, problema este dacă transferul sediului social presupune dizolvarea în prealabil a societăţii în statul în care s-a constituit şi reîinfiinţarea ei în statul unde doreşte să-şi mute sediului.
În timp ce dreptul la stabilire secundar este garantat în mod explicit în legislaţia Uniunii Europene, dreptul la stabilire primar reprezintă una dintre cele mai controversate şi dezbătute teme ale dreptului european al afacerilor, atât din punctul de vedere al doctrinei, cât şi din punctul de vedere al jurisprudenţei. Hotărârea dată în cauza Cartesio  a constituit apogeul unei polemici de peste trei decenii în doctrina de drept privat internaţional şi dreptul european al afacerilor, cercetarea încercând să stabilească în ce condiţii pot să-şi exercite societăţile comerciale dreptul la stabilire primar, o libertate garantată de Tratatul de la Roma. Una dintre cauzele principale ale acestei probleme era faptul că prevederile Tratatul de la Roma sunt interpretabile în această privinţă, însă Curtea de Justiţie Europeană a avut ocazia să analizeze şi să-şi exprima punctul de vedere vis-a-vis de transferul de sediu al societăţilor comerciale prin judecarea mai multor cauze. Astfel, în ciuda faptului că Tratatele de bază ale Uniunii nu oferă un răspuns direct în această problemă, Curtea a reuşit să clarifice mai multe aspecte importante.
Dreptul de stabilire primar se află tocmai într-o arie de suprapunere a unei libertăţi fundamentale a persoanelor juridice şi a dreptului privat internaţional al statelor membre şi ca atare prezintă un punct deosebit de tensionat din punct de vedere juridic. Complexitatea problemei generează tocmai din eterogenitatea normelor juridice (de drept privat internaţional) din statele membre ale Uniunii: unele sisteme juridice facilitează exercitarea dreptului de stabilire primar, în timp ce alte sisteme exclud posibilitatea exercitării acestui drept.
În această lucrare vom încerca să determinăm în ce măsură sunt compatibile dispoziţiile de drept internațional privat privind sediul social al societăţilor comerciale, cuprinse în noul Cod Civil al României cu principiile stabilite de soluţiile date de Curtea de Justiţie Europeană în materie de transferul transfrontalier al sediului.

The transfer of seat of companies is one of the most problematic and highly mediatized issue of European business law, both as theoretical, as well as practical aspects are concerned. This is why law professionals have intensely followed the case of Cartesio before the European Court of Justice and eagerly awaited the ruling scheduled for December 15, 2008, hoping to close a long and complex debate on the primary freedom of movement of companies. Before it came to a decision in the Cartesio Case, an intense dispute has been going on for more than thirty years in the field of international private law and European business law, regarding the extent the freedom of establishment of companies is granted in the Treaty of Rome.
The main issue regarding the freedom of establishment of companies is the following: is it possible for companies to transfer their seats from one member state into another, while maintaining in the same time their legal personality and nationality according to the country of their origins. Put in another words, would it be possible for a company to transfer its seat without having to dissolve in the state of their original establishment and without having to be established again in the state where seat is transferred. These questions remain mainly unanswered by the Treaty of Rome, but the European Court of Justice has had the possibility over the years to express its opinion regarding the freedom of establishment while ruling high-profile cases (Daily Mail, Centros, Überseering, Inspire Art). However, rulings in the above mentioned cases were not able to fully ascertain a consequent resolution and this is why the decision in the Cartesio case was highly anticipated. Even though the ruling came to surprise a few people, it certainly represents a landmark as far as international transfer of seat is concerned.
In the present paper we try to offer a short overview of the international transfer of seat, of the legal context regarding the freedom of establishment, as well as the relevant jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. In the second part of the presentations we will try to present how the international transfer of seat is comprehended by the Romanian law, with special attention dedicated to the problem whether the current Romanian legislation is in accordance with the dispositions of the Treaty of Rome and the general principles outlined in the European Court of Justice regarding the freedom of establishment.

The present study aims to present a brief summary of the evolution of Hungarian legal education in Transylvania, Romania, since the establishment of first legal courses in 1581 to our present day, as well as its perspectives in the 21st century.

A rövid írás Bodor Ádám kolozsvári születésű író művének, a Sinistra körzetnek a „jog és irodalom” jogelméleti irányzat kutatási módszerével történő megközelítésére tesz kísérletet. A „jog és irodalom” módszere által nyújtott lehetőség ily módon a regényt leginkább az utópia – antiutópia – disztópia fogalmak mentén megragadó kritikai irodalom írásaival rokonítja.
(A cikk eredetileg az Egyed Emese kolozsvári költő, irodalomtörténész, egyetemi tanár 60. születésnapjára kiadott köszöntőkötetben jelent meg.)

The deadly clubfire of a Bucharest club from Octomber 30, 2015 claimed the life of 64 people and left 186 people hospitalized. It was one of the worst civilian catastrophes in the history of post-communist Romania, and while the overall and overwhelming feeling of solidarity with the victims, the injured and their families led to generally positive results (donations, international response, a strong claim towards the government to take responsibility), it also led to abusing and aggressive media coverage, violating the right to dignity in case of victims and families. The Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului (National Audiovisual Council of Romania, the main regulatory body) faced harsh criticism for not being able to impose the provisions of Decision no. 220, dated February 24th, 2011 regarding the Regulatory Code of the Audiovisual Content (the relevant Code of law), thus failing to protect the rights to dignity for both victims, as well as their families. In an unprecedented move, the Council requested that the funeral services of victims would not be televised and broadcasts (ignored by some broadcasting companies). Hundreds of complaints regarding abusive reporting on victims were filed at the Council, which issued sanctions in two sessions: in a session from November 17, 2015, as well as in a session from January 14, 2016. The Council listed the violation of several provisions as grounds for sanctions, mostly pertaining to the right of dignity, the right of privacy and family life. The present paper examines the decisions issued by the Council in an attempt to clarify whether they need to be integrated in the general framework of Romanian media law regimentation.